Formed 1977 by twin brothers, ‘Bones’ and ‘Tezz’ Roberts along with Roy Wainwright, Discharge were at the forefront of the aggressive punk movement in the UK back in the late ’70s, early ’80s. Fast forward almost 40 years and despite their share of ‘snakes and ladders’ high and lows throughout the band’s existence, they are back! Across all the years, across all its members, across all blending of genres, loyal Discharge fans, finally, have a new chapter to look forward too. Having signed to Nuclear Blast Records last year and with Broken Bones vocalist, Jeff Janiak (JJ) now behind the mike, the band are poised to blast their way into 2016 with, hopefully, a new wave of Gen Y followers whilst appeasing fans of old school Discharge.

It’s hard to believe, End of Days is only the seventh full length album in the Discharge discography, having gone down the ‘punk’ path of releasing a multitude of EP’s across the years. This record marks a rebirth of such for the band. It’s first as a five piece and as stated, its first with new vocalist JJ.

Of course to review any Discharge album is a challenge in it’s self to any music reviewer or listener. You won’t find any acoustic interludes here nor vocal ranges that waver from the first track to the last. Discharge is served like a shotgun blast. Boom! – straight up hate, no deviation. It’s punk and hard-core combined in a way that has inspired some heavy metal bands over the years to incorporate more punk in their sound. See Sepultura, Metallica, Slayer for example.

End of Days is relentless. Think Dead Kennedys gone grind core. JJ’s vocals are harsh, almost guttural, the churning growl enveloping the gutsy punk nearing thrash sound of twin brothers, Roberts’ guitars. ‘New World Order’ lays the path of destruction before ‘Raped and Pillaged’ does exactly as the title suggests, ploughing onward at a fast pace as only Discharge should be remembered in doing. The lyrics are dirty, filthy, violent, the soundtrack a perfect fit for ‘End of Days’ mantra as the title track is introduced with a training drill voice of how to deal with nuclear destruction.

The song, ‘It Can’t Happen Here’, takes it back a notch entering the fray with a nice riff before erupting once more. From the pummelling bass of Roy Wainwright that rolls into ‘Hatebomb’ to the Roberts twins blistering guitar work on ‘Looking At Pictures of Genocide’, it seems Discharge have once again found there ignition switch.

If Discharge were attempting to recreate that punk ferocity of their early 80’s; mission accomplished. Sure, JJ’s vocals are not for everyone but a whole album of nonstop hardcore punk ferocity is tough to find these days. There is hardly a moment to breathe. This is raw punk how it should be. No posers allowed.

8 Mohawks out of 10.

Tracklist –

1

– New World Order

3:03

2

– Raped and Pillaged

1:45

3

– End of Days

2:25

4

– The Broken Law

2:19

5

– False Flag Entertainment

1:52

6

– Meet Your Maker

1:22

7

– Hatebomb

2:12

8

– It Can’t Happen Here

2:27

9

– Infected

2:32

10

– Killing Yourself to Live

2:47

11

– Looking at Pictures of Genocide

2:12

12

– Hung Drawn and Quartered

2:15

13

– Population Control

2:13

14

– The Terror Alert

1:55

15

– Accessories by Molotov, Pt. 2

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Writing, reviewing, interviewing, exploring new and old heavy music. From punk to grunge to hardcore to death metal to thrash and everything in between. I've been writing in the music industry now for several years including the websites LOUD, SF Media, Tone Deaf, The Metal Review and AMNplify. I'll be the one talking about bands from the 90s all the time.....
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